KJS Greenpower Event 2006

9 o’clock arrrived dull and rainy, which is the usual case when we are involved in Greenpower! King James’s School was to be the venue for the first Greenpower Open Day in the north of the country. Eight cars were due to appear for this day, no small feat with cars coming from as far as the Lake District. Slowly the cars started to arrive, Skipton Girls High with Simon were the first with their superbly engineered and finished Sweeter Chariot.

Next came Peter T with the three excellent Samuel King’s School cars, SKS Racing, Caitlin’s Kayak and the newly christened Whitefang (The former Carousserie Kestrel that Peter rescued from the skip. The kayak been an especial problem as it had filled up with water on the open trailer (well what else would you expect from a boat?) Soon after this Steve from Ripon Grammar School arrived with the fantastic Electric chair and Carbon Comet. Along with King James’s very own Crag Rat 2 these made up the contingent of Formula 24 cars. Peter R also very kindly brought along a Formula Goblin car.

NYBEP and SETPOINT in the form of Steve Hutcheon and his staff produced an excellent activity in balloon car racing. The competitors continued to refine their designs over the time of the event to produce cars that were running across the full width of the hall. This would be an excellent activity to new teams into Greenpower as it mirrors many of the aspects that make a successful Greenpower car.

The weather turned from the rain to bright sunshine. This was all that Peter needed to fit batteries to the Goblin, wheel it into the KJS car park, and start letting the smaller students have a run in it. This was until Matthew had a ‘small’ bump into one of the more permanent of the schools fixtures! Both were unscathed!

Not deterred Steve took out the RGS Electric Chair, and the newcomers to the event were treated to seeing an actual \Greenpower car running at a reasonable pace. Especially pleasing was seeing one of our drivers broad siding the car around the corners, which now I have seen, will ban him completely from ever driving our car again! ?

A steady stream of visitors were coming through the doors to admire the cars on display. Although all not interested in competing in Greenpower, events like this can only help in raising the profile of what we do. Certainly the members of staff that accompanied the cars felt that they were able to talk without the pressure of a race and many ideas were swapped during the four hours of the event!

Events like this would be impossible without the help of a great many people and I would like to thank:

Peter T, Simon, Steve and Peter R for taking the trouble to bring their cars along.
Steve Hutcheon and staff for the excellent balloon car racing.
Sue White - Internet goddess and top sticker maker.
Dr. Walton who said yes!
Jeremy for his help with contacts and support.
All those that helped out on the day
And all those who visited!